Background: The men named in the company are Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by DreamWorks Classics under DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., the post-1974 library is owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., The Jackson 5ive is distributed by CBS Television Distribution, and Rankin-Bass'stheatrical film library is owned by StudioCanal.

Videocraft International, Limited

1st Logo(September 1, 1961-November 24, 1966)

Logo: This superimposed logo features three TV tube-like shapes. One is at the bottom, and the other two are stacked on the left and right corners of the bottom tube, which, when together, resemble Mickey Mouse's head or a water molecule. The company byline appears as "A VIDEOCRAFT INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION" or "A VIDEOCRAFT PRODUCTION".

Variants: There are a few variants, which will be described later.

FX/SFX: The scrolling of the credits or the fade-in of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Usually the outro of a TV show.

Availability: Not quite uncommon, but not recent either. Can be found on TV shows or specials from the time that used it, such as The New Adventures of Pinocchio, The Tales of the Wizard of Oz, and the 1964 TV Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo(June 1966-November 23, 1968)

Nicknames: "Tri-Colored V", "Tri-Colored TV Monitors"

Logo: Over a white background, we see three colorized TV tubes aside each other, as in the infamous "V" design from the

previous logo. The names of the producers pop up on both tubes:ARTHUR RANKIN, Jr. (in the blue tube on the left)Jules Bass (in the greentube on the right)

The third tube (which is red) on the bottom has "Production" appear in it and "AN" above the logo, revealing the phrase as "AN ARTHUR RANKIN, Jr.-JULES BASS Production." We pan out to reveal the words "VIDEOCrAFT International, Limited" appearing in black underneath the logo.

FX/SFX: The name pop-in, the pan-out.

Cheesy Factor: Pretty simple but effective animation.

Music/Sounds: While a bongo drum is being heard throughout, the following happens: An electric guitar note and three ascending trombone notes herald the appearance of the Rankin and Bass credit popping in, followed by a brief flute melody during the pan-out with the last note of the melody being held for a second, and then after that, it all culminates in a one-note abrupt end. If you listen close enough, during the holding of the last note of the flute melody, you can hear a piano note. The music was composed by Maury Laws and Jules Bass.Availability: Ultra rare. Was last seen on The King Kong Show, and possibly the 1967 Cricket on The Hearth special. Don't expect this on the current TV airings and DVD/Blu-Ray releases of both, as they are plastered over with the next logo below. If not, you'll have to look very, VERY hard for this one.Scare Factor: Low. The dramatic music might get to some viewers._______________________________________________________________Rankin-Bass Productions

1st Logo(December 19, 1968-December 10, 1974)

Nicknames: "The Christmas Special Logo", "RB-TV Monitor", "Rankin-Bass on TV", "That Loud Logo at the End of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Logo: The screen is made up to look like a television set, with a blue border surrounding a white square with rounded corners that's supposed to represent a TV monitor. The symbol is a vertical rectangle with two dots along its right side, and the rectangle and top dot are dark shades of blue while the bottom dot is a lighter shade (forming a stylized R-B, you can make out the "r" using the dark shapes, and add that last dot to make a "B"). To the logo's music, the symbol forms one shape at a time on the left side of the "monitor;" the rectangle "slides" in, then the two dots appear. Alongside that appears the words "A Rankin-Bass PRODUCTION".

Bylines:

"A Division of Tomorrow Entertainment"

(Videocraft Copyright Notice)

(Bylineless)

Variant: Some early appearances of this logo had the animation occurring without the TV monitor outline and with the ending of the show's theme playing over it. This can usually be seen on The Little Drummer Boy and Frosty the Snowman.

FX/SFX: Symbols and words appearing.Cheesy Factor: Simple animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1966 Videocraft International logo. Sometimes, it is silent.

Music/Sounds Variant: There is a variant in which the bongos come in early.

Availability: Common around the Christmas season. The CBS reruns of Frosty the Snowman now has its closing logo intact, since Classic Media bought out the pre-1974 Rankin-Bass material (it originally had the logo replaced with a Golden Books Family Entertainment closing logo). Similarly, cable reruns of some holiday specials (particularly on ABC Family Channel) retained the R-B ID. Strangely enough, on one airing of The Little Drummer Boy, this logo was replaced with the "Blues" logo! The logo can also be found on DVD. It was plastered by the 1984 WBTV shield on the 2000 DVD of The Year Without a Santa Claus, but on the 2007 "Deluxe Edition" DVD, the logo is intact.

Scare Factor: Low. As usual, the dramatic music may unnerve some.

2nd Logo(September 11, 1971-September 1, 1973)

Nickname: "The One Before the Flashing M"

Logo: Just a dark background with the words "Rankin/Bass" in a script font superimposed onto it with the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH".FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The fade in.

Music/Sounds: Same as Motown Productions logo.Availability: Rare. It was only seen on The Jackson 5ive.

Scare Factor: Medium. The dark background and music, plus the sudden transition into the Motown Productions logo may turn some people off.

3rd Logo(December 19, 1975-July 5, 1987)

Nickname: "The Blues"

Logo: The screen flashes three different shades of blue, with the effect that they're getting sucked inwards, into a rectangle at the left of the screen. Every time they go through a shade, that's the color the rectangle is until all three have been done and the screen is white. Then the circles appear to complete the stylized "R-B," except instead of just appearing they sort of "grow" in their places. To the right of the logo appear the words "A Rankin-Bass PRODUCTION" as usual. It looks like the first logo without the TV monitor.

Variants:

On earlier prints of The Hobbit, it's silent and the background is carrot orange, while on Nestor the Christmas Donkey, the music is sped-up and the background is orange-yellow (though both of these could be from film deterioration). On the Xenon VHS release and 2014 Remastered WB DVD of the former, the music is intact and the background is brighter with a slight pink tinge.

On Leprechaun's Christmas Gold, the logo is in a shade of green.

On The First Easter Rabbit, the logo is far more deteriorated than the one on The Hobbit. This variant has a dark brown background, and the text and shapes are hardly legible.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1966 Videocraft International logo, but in a slightly lower tone. For the later years, it was re-arranged (which can be heard at the very right)

Music/Sound Variants:

On the 1983 TV special The Coneheads, the jingle was mixed with the drum roll and end chime of the Telepictures logo that followed.

On the WB DVD release of The First Easter Rabbit, the film deteriorated variant uses the fanfare from the 1986 Lorimar-Telepictures logo! This is likely another case of the sloppy reverse plaster syndrome.

Availability: Common. Retained on most Rankin-Bass holiday specials from this period on DVD releases and reruns on ABC Family. The logo has also often been cut short on ABC Family where it fades out as the music continues with a Warner Bros. logo following (usually the \\' "Distributed By" logo), as seen on Nestor the Christmas Donkey during the 24 Days of Christmas Marathon. The last special with this logo was The Wind in the Willows in 1987.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. The dramatic cheesy special effects added to the dramatic music may scare some. Raised to medium for the film deteriorated variant with the Lorimar-Telepictures jingle._______________________________________________________________Rankin-Bass Animated Entertainment

Logo: We see the classic Rankin-Bass logo, except made completely three-dimensional, with the text in royal blue, in the corporate font of then-current parent company Telepictures. A white line forms under the logo, and that line "springs" into a cursive "Animated Entertainment". Then, the "R-B" zooms up, and the shapes slide apart as they come closer to the screen, revealing a white "from". As the "O" overtakes the screen, we see the animation of the Telepictures or Lorimar-Telepictures animation, which eventually fills the entire screen.

Variant: On Santa, Baby!, the logo flips quite a few times in the start, and the transition to the Telepictures/Lorimar-Telepictures logos have been removed.

FX/SFX:

Original Version: The "Animated Entertainment" "spring" effect.

Santa, Baby! Variant: Same as above, plus the CGI RB logo flipping.

Music/Sounds: A bouncy, synthesized oboe theme (composed by Bernard Hoffer). On the first season of ThunderCats, the music segues into a custom fanfare for the Telepictures logo (also by Hoffer) and from 1986 onward, it segues into the end of the Lorimar-Telepictures theme when the logo appears.

Music/Sounds Variants: On Santa, Baby!, the ending theme is played.

Availability: Appears on 1980s Rankin-Bass productions, including ThunderCats and SilverHawks on DVD. The variant is only seen on Santa, Baby! on TV One, and on DVD through The Coca-Cola Company.

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